CGIAR Impact Blog

Heard of the recent DFID call for proposals to "accelerate the development of innovative and
interdisciplinary methods, metrics and tools to advance scientific
understanding of the linkages between agriculture and food systems, and health
and nutrition outcomes, to better inform policy and programmatic actions in low

Following a call for proposals on nutrition impacts from agricultural research that SPIA issued in mid-2013, five new impact assessment studies are now in the pipeline. The lead scientists from each of these five studies, as well as SPIA and a number of external experts such as Alan Dangour (LSHTM), Inge Brouwer (Wageningen) and James Garrett (IFPRI/IFAD), all gathered in sunny Wageningen, Netherlands, on July 4-5th 2014 for a workshop organised by Erwin Bulte and colleagues from Wageningen University and Research Center.

A recognized (and well-acknowledged) drawback of RCTs is general equilibrium concerns. What happens to (potential) impacts when interventions studied in field experiments scale-up, as in agricultural technology adoption? Even when RCTs measure spillovers (to the non-beneficiaries), these may not be aggregate (market) effects. As Mushfiq and Mobarak (2014) note, few RCTs examine GE consequences for both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.

The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) has just launched a database of over 2500 impact evaluations. Of particular interest to the CGIAR community are the 249 evaluations tagged 'Agriculture and Rural Development', and an additional 60 'Environment and Disaster Management' and over 1550 'Health Nutrition and Population' IEs.

Welcome to the new CGIAR Impact Assessment website. You will find a number of new features, including this blog, a Key References page featuring significant research findings related to CGIAR impacts, and a page entitled "Where is the Evidence?" that maps publications (a work in progress). In addition, we will provide regular updates on impact assessment activities around the CGIAR.